The Return to Hogwarts

Quack--Quack--

Several startled black crows took flight from a patch of barren grass in the center of Grimmauld Place, leaping swiftly over the rooftops and disappearing into the darkness. Their harsh, hoarse cries only added to the mystery of the deep night.

哈气

In a dark alley south of Grimmauld Place, Tonks, dressed in a dark cloak and nestled in the shadow of a telephone pole, yawned. Although his gaze was fixed on the location of buildings 11 and 13 in the square, his eyes were full of weariness.

Just then, a slight sound from behind made Tonks shudder. She instantly snapped awake and turned around abruptly. But when she saw that the person who came was a figure even darker than darkness itself, Tonks let out a long sigh of relief, rubbed her shoulders, and slowly put down her wand.

"I'm here to relieve you, Tonks. You can go find a place to rest for a while—"

The words spoken in a calm, deep voice slightly invigorated Tonks, whose face was full of fatigue; however, she did not obey the order to leave immediately.

“I think we’re just wasting our time, Kingsley.”

Glancing at the completely silent square, Tonks muttered a complaint in a low voice.

“We’ve been here ever since Black escaped Azkaban, but so far we’ve found nothing. In my opinion, we should send all the Aurors to the vicinity of Hogwarts to search Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest, instead of wasting our precious time and energy here, Kingsley!”

“You have a point, Tonks.”

Surprisingly, Kingsley did not refute Tonks's opinion; clearly, he had a similar judgment in mind.

Kingsley and Tonks stood side by side, silently facing the dilapidated and desolate square. After a long while, Kingsley took a deep breath and spoke again.

“But Black is a Death Eater, Tonks. You didn’t experience those times, so you don’t know how cruel and cunning Death Eaters are. We can’t ignore any possibility.”

"Alright, you're right, Kingsley, but maybe you can arrange for me to go to Hogsmeade. At least I can have a drink with an old classmate after work—"

Tonks fiddled with her somewhat dull, straw-like pink hair, grumbling in dissatisfaction.

"Staying up late is really harmful; I've noticed my hair is falling out a lot lately."

boom!

A deep, rumbling sound, like muffled thunder, came from another direction two miles away. Accompanied by a piercing shriek, a burst of brilliant fireworks suddenly exploded in mid-air, completely igniting the quiet, gloomy night!

"Stop right there, Blake!"

As the sound of the fireworks subsided, an angry roar caused Tonks and Kingsley's expressions to change drastically.

"It's Delilah's voice!" Tonks cried out in disbelief, panting, "Black, he's actually back here!"

Kingsley remained expressionless and did not respond.

He pointed his wand into the void before him, and with a whisper, a graceful, shimmering lynx emerged from a cloud of silvery light.

Kingsley strode forward and used his wand to inject a message into the lynx's brain. The lynx then nimbly leaped a few times in mid-air before suddenly disappearing from their sight.

"Kingsley?" Tonks asked, puzzled. "What are you doing? We should..."

“To avoid repeating past mistakes, Tonks,” Kingsley said calmly. “Let’s go, Tonks, and send that despicable bastard back to Azkaban!”

Chapter 166, Article 164: Tricked

Looking down from the sky, dark figures suddenly appeared in the previously deserted alleyways near Grimmauld Place. They emerged from their hiding places, and the Aurors who were closer ran at full speed, while those who were farther away simply rode flying brooms and rushed towards the explosion site with all their might.

Tonks and Kingsley were among the first to arrive at the scene, and even the usually composed Kingsley gasped when he saw the horrific state of the street.

The street, about fifty or sixty feet long, was completely blown into the air by the asphalt road built by Muggles, and the underground drainage pipes were also completely broken, spraying water rapidly in all directions.

The powerful shockwave ripped off the upper part of the second floor of the nearest Muggle house. Through the shattered windows, Tonks saw a Muggle couple sitting on the collapsed mattress, embracing each other and screaming!

One by one, the lights in the surrounding buildings came on, and the sounds of Muggles commotion and shouts for help came from all directions!

Tonks was stunned by the horrific scene. Her mouth agape, she instinctively reached out to comfort the Muggle couple upstairs, but before she could take a step, Kingsley grabbed her arm.

“The Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters will be here soon. They’ll handle things well here. Tonks, do what we should do. This is a terrible feeling.”

Kingsley's aura fluctuated violently. "This scene reminds me of twelve years ago!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A dazzling and dense barrage of magical light swept in like a sudden storm, causing the earth to tremble continuously. The booming sound of explosions echoed far and wide in the quiet night. More and more Muggles in the surrounding area noticed the commotion. Amidst a series of explosions, it seemed as if the entire city had been awakened!

"What's going on, Delix!"

Kingsley, his face pale, rushed to the battlefield and quickly joined the closing encirclement. He watched as the black-robed figure dodged spell after spell with incredible agility, and roared at the enraged Delilah.

"This person suddenly barged into my guarded area. I wanted to verify his identity, so I ordered him to stop. Then the ground suddenly exploded, and the strong wind from the explosion ripped off his cloak. I saw his face!"

Kingsley unleashed a stunning spell at a tricky angle, but the fleeing man in black seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Just before the red spell struck his ribs, he lunged forward, dodging Kingsley's spell with incredible speed.

"Are you sure this is Blake?!"

Kingsley, sensing something was amiss, roared, "I feel like this guy is more like a werewolf or a vampire! How could a wizard be so agile?!"

But this question didn't need to be answered by Dexter; Kingsley already had the answer. In a sudden gust of wind, the black-robed man's hood was once again pulled back, and in the chilling, cursed light, the two sunken black eyes on his sallow, withered face, like a dried corpse, radiated a chilling madness.

You can't catch me!

When the hoarse, ferocious voice reached my ears, the world fell silent for a moment, then erupted into noise again.

“Even if the Mystic comes, he can’t save you tonight, Black!” Kingsley shouted angrily.

All the Aurors and wizards transferred from other departments, totaling more than a hundred people, gathered nearby. Muggles stood at their windows, trembling and dumbfounded at the scene on the street that resembled a Hollywood blockbuster!

Facing the densely packed Ministry of Magic strikers who had surrounded him on the ground and in the sky, 'Black' grinned maliciously, showing no fear whatsoever. Instead, he raised his wand high and swung it down fiercely!

A tremendous wave of energy swept across the street from him, sweeping through the area with overwhelming force. The fighters surrounding him were all knocked over, and even those guys riding flying brooms that blocked the sky fell to the ground one by one, crying out in pain!

Seeing this, 'Blake' let out a mocking, shrill laugh. However, he seemed to realize that lingering in this situation would be unwise. So, he bent down and picked up a flying broom that had fallen to his feet. He nimbly mounted it and, without wasting a second, sped away in the opposite direction from the city. A dozen seconds later, he disappeared into the boundless darkness.

Without needing anyone's orders, the strikers who hadn't yet fainted gritted their teeth, staggered to their feet, mounted their flying brooms, some with two people on one broom, and chased after them with resolute eyes.

"My God!" A woman in her sixties or seventies stood trembling behind the shattered window, so terrified by the surreal scene that she couldn't even speak coherently, "Has Satan descended?"

"Don't worry, ma'am!"

Tonks, also mounting his Comet 260, softly reassured, "We'll put an end to all this soon!"

Swish, swish, swish!

Looking down from above, it looked as if hundreds of giant dragonflies had suddenly appeared and were flying off towards the suburbs. Closer to the city center, the neon lights of Muggle police cars and fire trucks were already faintly visible, and they would probably arrive nearby soon.

However, these Muggles are destined to be of little use. At this moment, the Ministry of Magic, which is in complete disarray, is urgently contacting the Muggle government through relevant channels, hoping that the Muggles will remain calm and leave all the problems to the wizards to solve.

Under normal circumstances, tonight's events would certainly cause a huge uproar in both the wizarding world and the Muggle world, with immeasurable consequences. However, Amosta is not worried because Sirius Black is already infamous. Both the Muggles and the Ministry of Magic will try their best to cover up the fact that 'Black' has launched another terrorist attack. Even the Daily Prophet will not report on it.

As for private matters, the unconfirmed information from the Ministry of Magic is nothing more than rumors and will not cause any upheaval or catastrophic panic in the wizarding world.

There weren't many residents near Grimmauld Place. The intense bombing earlier made all the Muggles who hadn't witnessed it think there had been a gas explosion. Faced with this situation, they didn't dare stay in their houses at all, but instead rushed out of their homes in a panic, trying to escape the disaster in all directions.

In the shadow of a tall street lamp near the square, Amosta, dressed in an unmarked black travel cloak, emerged from her illusory shadow form.

After surveying the surroundings, his gaze fell on the locations of numbers 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place. Although he did not know the exact location of the Black family mansion, the Ministry of Magic's security and traps clearly marked it.

Da da da

Amosta approached the two houses with leisurely steps, casually freezing the magic set up by the Ministry of Magic, and then stood in front of the two houses, gazing intently at the partition wall shared by the two houses.

Chapter 167 Clash Between the Two Arab States (Part 1)

Having caused such a huge mess, within minutes a large number of Ministry of Magic employees would arrive to deal with the memories of those Muggles whose worldviews had been shattered, as well as to repair the damage caused by Amostella. Therefore, he did not have much time to waste. After glancing at the houses on both sides and confirming that there were no Muggles inside, a barrier formed by a thin layer of light enveloped Amostella's body.

click!

Just like dealing with Riddle's notebook Horcrux in the secret room, Amosta's faintly glowing hand directly wedged into the space hidden by the spell. It was as if he was squeezing through the narrow gap between two bars in an iron gate, little by little, until half a minute later, his body completely disappeared into the air.

It is somewhat similar to the magical space within a Horcrux, equivalent to a vast and boundless magical plane in a higher dimension. However, it lacks the repulsive and evil magical power found within a Horcrux.

Having broken through the outermost spatial barrier, Amosta stood in the void, gazing solemnly at the five-story building that seemed to float in a rushing river, and at the iron net made of bronze chains of varying thickness blocking his way.

From a conventional perspective, this house is not far from Amosta. In the outside world, it would take no more than half a minute to reach it. But Amosta knew that it was not that simple in reality. In the realm of space, what seemed to be just a step away could actually be separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

Just like earlier this year, on the night Amosta processed the memories in the bottle, he completely isolated his office from the space where Hogwarts was located, banishing it to that space. If the exact spatial coordinates of his office were unknown, even Dumbledore might have to spend decades trying to break into it.

The same principle applies to this old house in front of us.

As for the main body of this chain net, it is actually a defensive spell that the successive heads of the Black family added to the ancestral home. These spells are powerful and ancient, interdependent and mutually restrictive, and difficult to dissect one by one from their intricate relationships.

"The foundation of a pure-blood family is indeed extraordinary; this house is truly impressive!"

Amosta nodded in approval, but his mood wasn't exactly good.

With such powerful and complex protections, it would be extremely difficult for Amosta to break through these barriers in just a few minutes.

After a moment's thought, Amosta stepped forward and stood before the magic net, quietly examining it.

Admittedly, Amosta couldn't get close to Black's old house without knowing the building's coordinates, but the chain net in front of him was not something Amosta couldn't deal with; in fact, it was quite easy for him.

Because these spells can be traced back hundreds of years, a significant portion of them have become ineffective. Furthermore, due to the varying magical abilities of successive heads of the Black family, many of the spells added later not only failed to enhance the protection but also interfered with the operation of those ancient spells. Therefore, they can be destroyed using the simplest violent means.

The only problem is that with such a dense network of magical nodes connected together, if Amosta were to break through the barrier, it could very likely cause the Black family mansion's defenses to collapse systematically. In such a dire situation, Amosta could easily escape, but the old mansion's condition would probably not be very optimistic.

Either the old house, along with the space itself, will be destroyed by a violent explosion caused by the sudden chaos of magic, or it will be completely banished to an unknown space, where the people inside will be unable to return to the normal world, and the people in the normal world will never be able to find the mansion.

If Amosta simply wanted to kill Blake, he could have gone all out, regardless of whether Blake was inside or not. It was acceptable to take a "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free" approach with criminals like this. However, Amosta's motives for hunting Blake were complex, and one possibility, well, was that he at least wanted to obtain Blake's body.

Gazing at the mansion bobbing up and down in the turbulent waters, Amosta frowned slightly, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.